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“I’m trying to protect you,” he snapped. “We have enemies, Dr. Whitcomb. The kind who would find out if you knew about us, who would come after you, who would take you to a hidden place and kill you—after a while. I won’t let that happen.”

Jane got to her feet. “Listen, Prince Charming, all the protective rhetoric is fine and dandy, but it wouldn’t be relevant if you hadn’t taken me in the first place.”

He dropped his silverware into his food and she braced herself for him to start yelling. Instead, he said quietly, “Look…you were supposed to come with me, okay?”

“Oh. Really. So I had a ‘Jack Me Now’ sign pinned on my ass that only you could see?”

He put the plate onto the bedside table, shoving it aside as if he were disgusted by the food.

“I get visions,” he muttered.

“Visions.” When he said nothing further, she thought about the Mr. Eraser trick he’d pulled with her head. If he could do that…Jesus, was he talking about seeing into the future?

Jane swallowed hard. “These visions, they aren’t sugarplum-fairy kind of stuff, are they.”

“No.”

“Shit.”

He stroked his goatee, like he was trying to decide exactly how much to tell her. “I used to get them all the time, and then they just dried up. I haven’t gotten one…well, I had one of a friend a couple of months ago, and because I followed it I saved his life. So when my brothers came into that hospital room and I had a vision of you, I told them to take you. You talk about conscience? If I didn’t have one I would have left you there.”

She thought back to him getting aggressive with his nearest and dearest on her behalf. And the fact that even when he’d been stripping her of the razor he’d been careful with her. And then there was him curling up against her, seeking comfort.

It was possible he’d thought he was doing the right thing. It didn’t mean she forgave him but…well, it was better than his doing a Patty Hearst with no compunction at all.

After an awkward moment she said, “You should finish that food.”

“I’m done.”

“No, you’re not.” She nodded at the plate. “Go on.”

“Not hungry.”

“I didn’t ask if you were hungry. And don’t think I won’t plug your nose and shovel it in if I have to.”

There was a short pause and then he…Jesus…he smiled at her. From the midst of his goatee his mouth lifted at the corners, his eyes crinkling.

Jane’s breath stopped in her throat. He was so beautiful like that, she thought, with the dim light of the lamp falling on his hard jaw and his glossy black hair. Even though his long canine teeth were still a little odd, he looked far more…human. Approachable. Desirable—

Oh, no. Not going there. Nope.

Jane ignored the fact that she was blushing a little. “What’s up with flashing all those pearly whites? You think I’m joking about the food?”

“No, it’s just no one talks to me like that.”

“Well, I do. You have a problem with it? You can let me go. Now, eat or I feed you like a baby, and I can’t imagine your ego would get off on that.”

The little smile was still on his face as he put the plate back on his lap and made slow, steady work of the dinner. When he was done, she went over and picked up the glass of water he’d drained.

She refilled it in the bathroom and brought it back to him. “Drink more.”

He did, finishing the whole eight ounces. When he put the glass back on the bedside table, she focused on his mouth and the scientist in her became fascinated by him.

After a moment he curled his lip off his front teeth. His fangs positively gleamed in the lamplight. Sharp and white.

“They elongate, right?” she asked as she leaned into him. “When you feed, they get longer.”

“Yeah.” He closed his mouth. “Or when I get aggressive.”

“And then they retract when it passes. Open again for me.”

When he did, she put her finger to the hard point of one—only to have his whole body jerk.

“Sorry.” She frowned and took her hand back. “Are they sore from the intubation?”

“No.” As his lids lowered, she figured it was because